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Justin Hammer
= Gallery = File: Hammer_Logo.png File: Justin_Hammer3.jpg File: HI_Queens.jpg File: Hammer_Home_Floorplan.jpg File: BullShark_Drone.jpg |history= Justin Hammer was born into an upper middle class family in New York City. His father was vice president of field operations for an energy conglomerate, and his mother quit her job as a nurse to raise Justin and his sister. His upbringing was normal, and his family always well off. Justin was a smart kid, and always managed to stay ahead in his classes despite his frequent rebellious streaks. After graduating high school he netted a partial scholarship to the University of Colorado Boulder where he was able to double major in business and mechanical engineering. While he had a deep interest in engineering he lacked the natural aptitude for it, doing far better in his business classes. Justin actually considered dropping the engineering major altogether, but was able to pass all the classes with some effort. In what little free time the young man had he indulged a lifelong passion for guns by taking classes at a local gunsmithing school. After college he found himself stuck in an entry level position at the aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, and worked feverishly on side projects using the company’s machining facilities. Combining his gunsmithing hobby with his engineering skills, Justin created a prototype combat rifle capable of firing multiple calibers by changing only a few settings. The versatile new weapon came to the attention of the U.S. Marine Corps, and became the catalyst that started Hammer Industries. The HI-4MCR rifle proved itself to be reliable combat weapon, and is still in production and use. After Hammer Industries was officially founded, new designs poured out of the company. Justin could focus his entire attention on new ideas, and it wasn’t long before he branched out into ballistic armor, sighting and guidance systems, and weapons of mass destruction. The company’s focus remained almost entirely on defense and weapons with little development on purely civilian projects. What they supplied to the civilian market was mostly to law enforcement and private security. As a relative newcomer to the market, Hammer Industries often lost bids on government contracts to the more established Stark Industries. This forced Hammer to branch more into more civilian markets and further fueled his competitive nature. Justin was often outspoken about wanting to surpass Stark and even buy the company. As the competition grew tighter projects were often rushed into production and HI’s reputation started to falter. Over budget and past due projects started to become more prevalent, but despite the problems HI grew to the number two defense contractor. When Stark Industries pulled out of the weapon’s market it was a huge opportunity for Justin and his company. Hammer Industries became a primary DOD systems contractor, and the company launched full bore into new projects. Justin, still fueled by his one-sided competition with Stark and troubled by the public’s declining opinion of WMDs, put too much pressure on his engineers. Two major failures that made headlines brought HI into the public spotlight, and in a very poor light. In 2008 a batch of Hammer Industries incendiary rounds had to be recalled from the front lines due to a manufacturing defect that lead to the rounds igniting while still in the chamber. The defective rounds caused the death of three soldiers over a two month period and forced the Senate Armed Services committee to temporarily suspend HI’s contracts. Hammer insisted that it was only a small batch of the rounds that were affected and it was purely a manufacturing defect. After a lengthy reevaluation period the rounds were put back into production with no further issues. The second public failure that brought unwanted attention onto Hammer Industries was the failed aerospace drone project known as “Bull Shark” and it’s derivative “Black Arrow”. Project Bull Shark was a semi-autonomous, super-long range stealth drone with supersonic capabilities. It’s original purpose was to carry and deliver guided nuclear devices, but the project changed directions. The nuclear capable version grew from a drone into a highly controllable smart-missile with an intercontinental range. The new project was dubbed “Black Arrow”, and the Bull Shark drones were developed into dog fighting and air superiority fighters. The advantage of the Bull Shark drones over traditional air superiority fighters was it’s remote operation, and it’s semi-autonomous nature. A single pilot could, in theory, operate 3 drones simultaneously, and from a distance of thousands of miles. While the theory was solid and the project had good backing and funding, aerodynamic issues lead to the drones falling behind schedule and going over budget. When demonstration day finally arrived in 2011, a pilot at Schriever AFB in Colorado Springs, CO took control of three drones at Nellis AFB in Nevada. Shortly after take off a glitch in the software that operated the control surfaces of the drones caused two of the drones to collide mid-air, and sent the third crashing into a barracks. 46 people were injured, no deaths, but the project lost its funding. Black Arrow, which had much of the same software, was scrapped. After the two failed projects, Hammer is finding himself walking a very thin line. While most of what the company produces meets military standards, his contracts are still hanging in the balance. Public opinion of the company is low, and he’s struggling in civilian markets as well. Recent History: Justin and Hammer Industries made headlines again in early 2013 when a rogue vigilante took the Hammer Industries’ administration offices hostage. The crisis ended with Justin shooting the perpetrator, who went through the window and fell 20 stories, and disarming several land mines that had been rigged through the office building. The papers hailed Hammer as a hero, though many conspiracy theorists claimed it was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Hammer made the decision to resurrect the BullShark drone project, making it the focus of his 2013 Stark Expo demonstration. The hope was to make up for the failed 2012 demo in which the HX-173 micromissile project did not properly detonate leading to an embarrassing mark on the company. The demonstration was almost derailed when one of the three drones peeled off during a live-fire test and menaced the gathered crowd. After rebooting the drone’s communications systems control was restored and no one was injured, but Hammer Industries once again came under fire for what could have been a disaster. Despite the technical difficulties of the demonstration, the government continued to back the project and the drones were scheduled to go into production. }} Category:CharacterCategory:FCCategory:Reluctant-VillainCategory:Unregistered